


you still feel like home

by ohhgreywarden



Series: Tumblr Prompts [1]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Corypheus's false Calling, Cousland (Dragon Age) is not a Grey Warden, F/M, I just tagged it as such for sorting, King Alistair (Dragon Age), King Alistair and Queen Cousland, Light Angst, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Pregnancy, Queen Cousland (Dragon Age), Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:40:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21816793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohhgreywarden/pseuds/ohhgreywarden
Summary: When King Alistair begins to hear the calling early, Queen Elodie Cousland is worried. (Written for a prompt on tumblr)
Relationships: Alistair/Cousland (Dragon Age), Alistair/Female Cousland (Dragon Age), Alistair/Female Warden (Dragon Age), Alistair/Warden (Dragon Age)
Series: Tumblr Prompts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1572025
Kudos: 18





	you still feel like home

**Author's Note:**

> Just for context: in my canon, Elodie Cousland is not a Grey Warden, but she still survived the attack on Highever Castle. The marriage between her and Alistair was a politically-motivated arrangement but they fell in love along the way.
> 
> Originally posted on tumblr [here](https://www.tumblr.com/reblog/189631382390/dSYFVDup). Based on a prompt from [his post](https://sebethany.tumblr.com/post/189630009640).

Elodie hasn’t had a good night’s sleep in months. At first, it was just from the stress of dealing with those blasted _rifts_ and the mages bringing that magister into Redcliffe. Then her husband started having those dreams and hearing… what exactly she doesn’t know, but he said it was the Calling that Grey Wardens hear when the darkspawn taint begins to take over their minds and bodies. He swears he won’t leave for the Deep Roads yet, that he’ll fight against the call until it drives him mad, but she can see how much it’s hurting him. He hasn’t had a good night’s sleep in months, either, and his skin is too ashen and the bags under his eyes too dark; he looks older than his thirty-one years and it scares her.

When she realized she was with child, it should have been a joyous occasion. Ten years of losing hope that she and Alistair would conceive an heir with every month her cycle came uninterrupted finally being over should have made her happy beyond words, but instead it only adds to her worries. It’s only been a few weeks since the healers told her she was pregnant, and every minute since then she has been terrified that perhaps the child had been conceived already tainted and her body would reject it, or that the stress would cause her to lose the baby.

And yet, in spite of everything, Alistair still comes to bed with her every night, just as sleepless as she is, and she still wakes up every morning exhausted and nauseous. Elodie had never been much for prayer, but now she finds herself thanking the Maker every day that she still has her husband and her unborn child and that Ferelden hasn’t been completely overrun with demons or Tevinter magisters.

Elodie hasn’t had a good night’s sleep in months, but neither has Alistair. He lies back against the pillows, eyes closed but still awake, and she’s nestled under his arm with her head on his shoulder, watching the rise and fall of his chest. Every few breaths, he lets out a shaky exhale.

“Is it that bad?” she asks quietly after Alistair furrows his brow.

“Hmm?” His eyes snap open and he sits up slightly, frowning.

Elodie sits up and rests a hand on his brow. It’s cold and clammy. “The Calling. It seems like it’s worse tonight.”

His face relaxes slightly at her touch. “It is. But don’t worry about me, it’s nothing I can’t handle.” A sideways smile pulls at his lips; that’s one of the most charming and infuriating things about her husband, the way he always deflects his misfortunes with a smile and a joke.

“You don’t need to say that just to make me feel better. I’m worried about you, you know.”

Alistair lets out a weak laugh. “I should be the one worried about you. You’re carrying our child when we thought it was impossible, after all. But no, the Calling _had_ to come for me early. Just my luck.”

“I’m scared you’ll leave,” Elodie whispers. She doesn’t cry, never cries anymore since she and Fergus gave their family a proper funeral, but instead feels cold and numb. “You said when we married that this would happen someday, but I thought I had more time…”

“I won’t leave, I promise.” He sits up and pulls her into a tight embrace. “I’ll fight the Calling until my last breath. **You still feel like home** , not the Deep Roads, and I will remain by your side for as long as that holds true.”

She wraps her arms around his shoulders and sinks into him. She’s not sure if she believes him, not when she’s heard him describe the Calling before, but as long as he believes it she will have to trust him.

“Besides,” Alistair murmurs, a hand dropping to her still-flat stomach, “I want to see our child born.”

That gets a small smile from her and she places her hand over his. “I still almost can’t believe it.”

“Me neither, but it’s real.” He kisses her forehead and she melts against him. “For you, and for our child, I would fight an archdemon by myself if it meant I could remain just a little longer.”

“I know,” Elodie says, and this she believes.

**Author's Note:**

> Obviously this is just Corypheus's false Calling and Alistair gets better!
> 
> I will be writing more with Elodie and Alistair at some point. This was an excellent way to get into it!


End file.
